MasukSerafina Vale didn’t want love anymore, she wanted war and a husband to help her start it. Her ex-fiancé slept with her stepsister and proposed to her on camera, in front of everyone. So yeah—she needed to hit back, fast and publicly. With help from her best friend, Rhea, she was supposed to meet a broke model at a diner. Sweet guy, easy to handle. Just enough to stir drama and ruin the happy couple’s fairytale. But she sat at the wrong table and accidentally proposed to the wrong man. Dorian Everhart was the opposite of harmless. He was cold, unreadable and terrifyingly rich. He absolutely had no business saying yes. But…he did. He married her the same day with no questions asked or rules attached either. She thought she was the one using him. But he didn’t seem to bulge, and now, she’s starting to wonder, who really set this up? Why does her stepsister flinch every time Dorian’s name comes up? and why does he know so much about her family? What the hell does he want from her? And worse….why does a part of her want him to take it?
Lihat lebih banyakSERAFINA “I—” I stopped midway, then started afresh. “Just trust me Dorian. One day I’d figure this out. With, or without your help.” I stood up, then walked out. I didn’t leave to make a statement. I left because if I didn’t, I was going to say something I couldn’t take back. Because the space between us had turned radioactive. And I was tired of holding my breath just to stand in it. I didn’t even look at him, not because I didn’t want to. Because I couldn’t stomach the way his eyes were probably already on me, pretending to be blank when I knew damn well they weren’t. And the worst part? He let me go. silent crashout :( No questions asked. Not even the shift of a body deciding whether to follow. Which almost made it worse because it meant he was waiting again. And this time? I didn’t know if it was for me or for something else to break. ****** Rhea met me on the rooftop. No coffee or judgment. Just her, leaning against the rail like she’d been watching the city li
SERAFINA Not from him though. Not right then either. A few minutes later when I snapped from what felt like hypnosis. I walked back to my room, and went back to bed, phone in hand, pretending I could sleep. The message came at 6:04 a.m. No salutations, no name. Just a photo. The headline didn’t hit me. It was the kind people skip—Anonymous Donation from Richard’s boards. But there was a date on it. That date. Because I knew it, it was the same one as the card. The one Nadine had circled twice. The one I’d been tripping over in different contexts for days. I sat up in bed. Not like a jolt, not even fast. Just slow, cold, full-bodied awareness. The kind that starts at your fingertips and climbs its way up. My phone was still in my hand. The image was fully loaded. The screen didn’t dim, but I did. Not because I didn’t understand, but because I finally did. Does that make sense…? It wasn’t about the card or the folder anymore. This— This was the map. And every plac
SERAFINA I heard his phone vibrate, I hadn’t gone far from the guest room myself. I had no business with who it was because, whatever it was… whoever it was… I didn’t give a hoot. Or.. so I thought. Dorian didn’t give a reaction. He didn’t stammer or backpedal or offer me some cleaned-up version of how that name of his landed in my dang mother’s file. The same mother whose death didn’t have any core explanation? Now? I’m being left to comprehend that this stranger bound to me by a marriage contract has more knowledge than I do? Fuck this. I dropped the folder. But it wasn’t enough. I wanted to scream, slap him, ask why the fuck his name lived where my mother’s secrets died. But instead… I walked away. Because rage was too generous. And mercy? He hadn’t earned that either. It was more or a goddamn insult. Because I stood there, chest open, heart raw, clutching something I hadn’t even asked for. I didn’t close the door hard or soft. I didn’t even pause in the hallway lik
DORIAN“Do I look sick to you, dear loving husband?” She shot at me, almost immediately.“Should I be honest?”“Not. Funny. Leave me alone.”“Hmm. Russell didn’t check in? Don’t you have that um… clearance with Vogue?”She didn’t say anything in reply. I didn’t blame her regardless.I couldn’t imagine what stress was going through her head.I didn’t ask her what she saw.Neither did I ask if she read all of it again or just enough to know she’d never look at me the same way again.Because the way she was holding that folder told me everything.She was still sitting on the couch. Same position, same cold look of stillness that didn’t feel passive—it felt exact. She didn’t look up at me, she didn’t move away either.Which, honestly, was worse.Because Serafina always moved when she was angry. She shouted, pushed, slammed things. Sera was many things—but unreadable wasn’t one of them. She had patterns, and I’d memorized every single oneI sat across from her. I needed to see her face.B
DORIANAnd when she does? It wasn’t going to be a conversation, it would be a reckoning.I literally just stood there like a dumbo, trying my best not to breathe too loud. I didn’t lean closer like some half-curious voyeur standing behind a door he didn’t have the right to open.I just angled my
DorianI wouldn’t blame her for walking away.But I’d try my possible best to make sure she didn’t.My phone buzzed again.Amia.Amia.Amia.I didn’t answer it. I just let her name flash once, then fade like it never belonged there to begin with.Of course.She always knew how to pick the perfect t
Serafina I stood still, like I wasn’t anxious about whatever was coming next. Then — he finally broke the ice. “You won’t win this by keeping your guard halfway up.” Because I wasn’t sure what I hated more — the way he always tried to twist the game back to me… or the fact that this time, he m
Serafina I woke up late. And not the good kind of late — not the warm, satisfied, peace-in-your-chest kind. No. I woke up with my mouth dry, and the shrinking realization that he possibly never left. I could feel him. Dorian Everhart — oh, my bad, my husband — was somewhere in this apartment. B






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